Rent.com.au rental market snapshot: October 2018

Rent.com.au has released its latest report for October 2018 based on property leasing data. The report illustrates the shift in Australian median rental property prices (both metro and regional) rental affordability (the median room price metric) and days on market.

Monthly Highlights:

3 of the biggest states were stable in October – no change in median house rents month-on-month.

The national median house rent climbed 1.1% to $440/week in October.

Brisbanemetro was the only capital city to see no change in either house or apartment rents.

The sharpest price increase was in Hobart where apartment rents rose 11.4% month-on-month.

The price of rooms remained most expensive in Sydney, unchanged from September.

Price trends

Median rents.

As we take a look across Australia’s rental market in October, it’s clear that while house prices have fallen, rental growth has been sluggish, and rents have fallen a little in Sydney.

Rent.com.au Chief Executive Greg Bader said: “The country’s rental market is pretty fragmented with a bit growth in some regions, no growth in others and then falling rents in some. This has been driven by local factors including job growth and population growth, as well as consumer confidence and supply and demand.”

“Another sign of slowdown in Sydney is the increased length of time it took to lease an apartment/house in October, which increased relative to a year ago (23% longer – apartments, 22% longer for houses),” he said.

“That increased time on market also ties in with the fact that there are more listings on Rent.com.au in Sydneythan there was last year – there were 12.9% more apartments advertised for rent in Sydney than in October 2017, and 3.9% more houses.”

The latest rental data found that the sharpest increase in median rents was in Hobart, where apartment rents jumped up 11.4% month-on-month. The Tasmanian capital’s median rent (apartments) is now $367/week, against $430/week (houses).

Price per room.

The cost of renting a room in Australia increased year-on-year in October, with the most noticeable change in house rents. The national median for houses in Australia’s metro areas was $147/week in October, up 7.2% from 12 months back. Across the state and territory capitals, the biggest jump was in Hobartapartment room prices, a 11.7% rise year-on-year with rooms now priced at $181/week.

National apartment prices recorded less of a difference but still jumped 5.7%. In October, the cheapest room for renters could be found in a Perthor Adelaide house – just $120/week.

Regional rents.

Median rents across Australia’s regional areas remained mostly stable in October, with no change in the median rent of $365 nationally. In October, most states and territories saw a jump month-on-month: Victoria (up 3.3%), Western Australia (up 3%), South Australia (up 1.9%) Tasmania (up 3.4%) and Northern Territory (up 7.1%), while prices only jumped in Queensland (up 1.3%). SA recorded the cheapest regional rent prices – a median of just $270 a week.

Days on market.

The most noticeable shift month-on-month was in Darwinapartments, which slowed by 25% to take 44 days on average to come off market. Hobartapartments, however came off market 10% faster in October to take an average of 12 days to lease.

Compared to a year ago, Sydneyapartments shifted 23% faster in October – perhaps indicative of the flattening taking place in the NSW capital’s housing market.

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